Panama leak was a spy hack

The Panamanian lawyer at the centre of a data leak scandal that has embarrassed several world leaders claimed his outfit was the victim of an external hack.

Founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the firm, Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in setting up offshore companies, had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. He claimed it had never destroyed any documents or helped anyone evade taxes or launder money.

But he said that company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organizations, were “taken out of context” and misinterpreted.

Fonseca said that the leak was not an inside job, but a hack. His company had a theory who carried out the hack and are following it up.

“We have already made the relevant complaints to the Attorney General’s office, and there is a government institution studying the issue,” he added, flanked by two press advisers.

He was miffed that governments across the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful rather than a hacking.

“The only crime that has been proven is the hack,” Fonseca said. “No one is talking about that. That is the story.”

However it is not surprising more than 11.5 million documents have been leaked including the financial arrangements of prominent figures, including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned, becoming the first casualty of the leak.